Martin: The Mountains are the Alleghenies, a part of the Appalachian chain that runs from Maine to Georgia along the east coast. They are said to be the oldest mountain range in the world, dating back to the tectonic collision of Africa and North America about 470 million years ago. This collision caused the uplift and wrinkling that created the regular banding that you see, and the hundreds of millions of years of erosion has caused a regularity in shape of the slopes. Once these mountains were as high or higher than the Hymalayas are now.
The mountains are quite lovely, and in many places still quite a wilderness. They were crucial to the success of the English colonies in North America, as they provided a barrier to the harsh winter weather that comes in from the northwest, a refuge for the native americans displaced by the colonists and protection (for the English) from the French, Spanish and Indians that dominated the area west of the mountains. The so-called French and Indian War of 1763, in which George Washington first came to prominence, was caused in part by the fact that the British settlements were starting to push west through the mountains.
When you visit, you may note some similarity to the mountains of northern Scotland, though unlike in Scotland the Appalachians are still heavily forested. They are owned in relatively small private landholdings, rather than the large tracts that I understand to be the case in Scotland. There is also a lot of public ownership and a famous hiking trail that extends from Maine to Georgia.
Here's a link to a good geologic discussion from Bucknell University, located in Pennsylvania.
http://www.bucknell.edu/Academics/Colleges_Departments/Academic_Departments/Geology/Geology_of_Central_PA/Geologic_History.html